The couple in search of a car found the sedan they wanted for sale on Craigslist for $4,000. They arranged a meeting Monday night on a street in Bolton Hill lined with 19th-century rowhouses.

But Baltimore police said both the seller and the buyer took guns to the transaction. And when one of the men who posted the ad drew his weapon and demanded money from the prospective buyer, police said his female acquaintance pulled her own gun and fired into the air.

The gunman dropped his weapon on Bolton Street and the woman gave chase, "firing her weapon numerous times indiscriminately in the air," said city police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. No one was hit by gunfire, but police said they seized both guns and arrested the victim on weapons charges.

"We understand that this was a terrifying, frightening situation, but when you fire a gun into the air, you become part of the problem," Guglielmi said of the female victim in Monday's Bolton Hill attack. "The best thing to is to be a good witness and call the police."

The two men who tried to rob the couple escaped, and were described only as men in their 20s. City police said the holdup was linked to an earlier attack in which a 20-year-old man and two of his relatives were robbed and assaulted on Laurens Street in West Baltimore, also after answering an ad about a car for sale.

In May, police arrested a man in connection with a separate string of four armed robberies in Northwest Baltimore after they said he posted on Craigslist that he had coins to sell.

The spate of attacks linked to the popular Internet bartering site is prompting new warnings by police, urging people exchan"People are targeting others on Craigslist," Guglielmi said,

Got that? Be a good witness. Surrender your money, your possessions, maybe even your life, but don't you dare fight back or walk around armed.

After the crook leaves you with whatever he decides is not worth taking, call the police. I'm sure that within an hour or so, someone will be down to take a statement, which will be filed away and probably never be seen by human eyes again.

7
posted on 06/20/2012 5:46:47 AM PDT
by Ronin
(Dumb, dependent and Democrat is no way to go through life - Rep. L. Gohmert, Tex)

In my area of KY a man tried to sell a gun on our local version of CL (yes, it’s awesome. You can sell guns and pets here with online want ads). The buyer tried to rip him off and ended up dead. It was ruled self defense. This one happened at the seller’s house.

And in other news, some people just tried to drive their cars last year and ended up dead. Over 40,000 of them.

One problem: Maryland is a "May Issue" state, where it's hard to get a permit, so it's likely she was carrying illegally. Killing a guy while in commission of a crime (illegal carry) might have turned out very badly for her in court. It being Baltimore, and the circumstances of the transaction, lead me to think that neither side were fine upstanding citizens with clean records.

17
posted on 06/20/2012 6:05:28 AM PDT
by PapaBear3625
(If I can't be persuasive, I at least hope to be fun.)

Good as in, "the dead are silent witnesses." They never contradict themselves. Like on that forensics show. No thanks!

But shooting in the air was a bit batty. She's lucky both her and her boyfriend weren't killed. All's well that ends well, I guess. But that dude has got to find someone better to ride shotgun next time!

For further insight, we turn to Hatcher's Notebook (1962) by Major General Julian S. Hatcher, a U.S. Army ordnance expert. Hatcher described military tests with, among other things, a .30 caliber bullet weighing .021 pounds. Using a special rig, the testers shot the bullet straight into the air. It came down bottom (not point) first at what was later computed to be about 300 feet per second. "With the [.021 pound] bullet, this corresponds to an energy of 30 foot pounds," Hatcher wrote. "Previously, the army had decided that on the average an energy of 60 foot pounds is required to produce a disabling wound. Thus, service bullets returning from extreme heights cannot be considered lethal by this standard."

“The gunman dropped his weapon on Bolton Street and the woman gave chase, “firing her weapon numerous times indiscriminately in the air,” said city police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. No one was hit by gunfire, but police said they seized both guns and arrested the victim on weapons charges.

“We understand that this was a terrifying, frightening situation, but when you fire a gun into the air, you become part of the problem,” Guglielmi said of the female victim in Monday’s Bolton Hill attack. “The best thing to is to be a good witness and call the police.”

****

All a hit piece on the intended robbery victims.

23
posted on 06/20/2012 6:31:35 AM PDT
by treetopsandroofs
(Had FDR been GOP, there would have been no World Wars, just "The Great War" and "Roosevelt's Wars".)

It is definitely possible to kill someone from a mile and a half away, snipers certainly try it on occasion. Shooting a gun at a very high angle however, like straight up is very unlikely to kill someone. The terminal velocity of a bullit shot straight up is going to be about 100mph. That is fast enough to hurt but not likely to kill. A gun shot at a low angle is a different story altogether. As long as a bullit is still spinning it is likely to be going faster than 100 mph. The lower the angle the shorter distance of travel. One and one half miles is a pretty great distance for a nine millemeter especially a hollow point. A good review of the problem was done by Mythbusters. Here is a link to their story.

It looks like the decline began before the recession. One other explanation is of course the price of gas which was already up over $4 before the recession.

But the rate of fatalities per billion miles traveled has also been going down. Apparently there have been some safety improvements in cars that can account for some of this. And perhaps there is some stricter enforcement of traffic laws.

—Apparently there have been some safety improvements in cars that can account for some of this.—

Like texting? It’s the reason I stopped bicycle commuting and gave up motorcycling.

I do think the price of gas has something to do with it, but that speaks to the economy. And the drop actually started just as we were getting wind that a bubble was crashing. I start the significant decline in 2007.

Check out posts #20 and #36. It would seem that shooting into the air is less lethal than many would think, and the obvious choice if you are trying to scare a suspect rather than kill him, other than shooting into the ground.

I take it you are a proponent of firing into the air like an ccamel-humping Islamofascist retard?

A few years back I found a rifle bullet in the parking lot of where I worked that was sticking up at about an 80-degree angle. It had obviously been fired into the air at a steep angle. It had mushroomed appreciably from impact with the asphalt. I seriously doubt that anyone hit in the head by it would have survived.

Granted, the probability of hitting someone is pretty low, but when you fire into the air you are saying that you are willing to take the chance that you will accidentally kill someone because you are special.

And if you do kill someone by firing into the air, are you saying that you should not be prosecuted for negligent homicide?

42
posted on 06/20/2012 7:06:54 AM PDT
by E. Pluribus Unum
(Government is the religion of the sociopath.)

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